10 Things Happy People Do Differently!

Happy Valentine’s Day & February. I was
sent an article by a friend at the first part of the year, and it moved me so
much I wanted to pass it along. The full
article is “12 Things Happy People Do Differently.” Go to www.marcandangel.com
and type in the title to get the full article.

When I received the article, I was sitting down
contemplating on my New Year’s resolutions.
In my teens and twenties, my resolutions were selfish in nature –
usually all about how I could make myself better or grow professionally. As I have matured, my resolutions are more
about setting goals to be a better person and a better steward. When I read the article, I immediately began
to take action towards becoming happier because it has such a powerful trickle
effect. Below is a summary of the things
happy people do differently and how it has impacted me personally. I hope that some of these tips help you find
happiness. A happy boss, employee,
spouse, parent, sibling, etc., can truly impact others in ways you could never
imagine.

1.
Express Gratitude: Being grateful for the
goodness that already exists in your life will bring you a deeper sense of
happiness. It puts things in
perspective. I have challenged myself
this year to end each day with a gratitude statement. They are not big things but things that I
sometimes take for granted. You can
check out my Facebook page to see the daily posts.

2.
Cultivate Optimism: No matter what the situation,
the real winners are the ones who see the good in everything. Failures are only an opportunity to grow and
learn from life. When I make mistakes or
something goes wrong, my approach is to admit the mistake and see a way that I can
learn from it so that it does not happen again.

3.
Avoid Overthinking and Social Comparison:
Comparing ourselves to others never really leads to anything good. You can have goals or aspire to be like
someone, but comparisons can give an unhealthy sense of superiority or create
negative thinking. Be grateful for what
you have, set goals for what you want, but stop comparing yourself to others
because no one person is the same and you never have the “full” story.

4.
Practice Acts of Kindness: Helping others is a
powerful way to feel better. We can all
probably think of one random act of kindness that we have done over the past
year and how good it felt. Challenge
yourself to seek out ways in which you can help others whether it is delivering
a cup of coffee to a homeless man, going above and beyond to help with a
resume, or holding a door open for someone who might appreciate the
assistance.

5.
Nurture Social Relationships: I have found that the unhappy people also
tend to be lonely. Seek out deep,
meaningful relationships. If you do not
have any, or if you do but are like me and get a little lazy about feeding
those, nurture them. Reach out to those
people to take time for coffee, lunch, or just a chat. Friendships need time and attention just like
we need food and water. Nurture them.

6.
Develop Strategies for Coping: In the article,
the word “craptastic” was used, and it made me laugh and think about a real
life situation that happened this weekend.
It was Sunday and my girls had done an awesome job at removing every
single toy they have and spread them around the house. If I did not know better, I would have
thought they had some secret missile they used to literally explode the
toys. We were cleaning up, and our 2
year old at the time was screaming because she was ready for dinner. The 5 year old at the time was crying because
she did not want to help clean up. The fire alarm then went off because I
forgot about the tater tots in the oven, and our Labrador puked because he ate
his dog food too fast. It was a
“craptastic” moment and the way I coped was by clapping and saying, “Bravo!” Doing this helps me cope. Find what works for you and practice it.

7.
Learn to Forgive: Harboring resentment and not forgiving is a
sure fire way to squelch the gratitude and optimism. It is a negative emotion that can eat away at
you. Forgive and if you don’t know how,
seek out some experts that can help you learn how to let go.

8.
Savor Life’s Joys: Happiness cannot come to those who never allow
themselves to slow down and enjoy the day and its occurrences. Each night, Brett and I have some time slated
for our girls to just play. They are in
charge, and it might include dressing up or just chasing them and tickling
them. Our 7 year old is now so
accustomed to it that she often request “tickle time!” This simple statement always makes us smile
but is also a reminder to slow down and be in the moment.

9.
Practice Spirituality: When we believe that life
is bigger than us, it is humbling.
Humility grounds me. It is what
allows me to be grateful for the little things and to appreciate each and every
day.

10.
Take Care of Your Body: When I started Part-Time Pros, our oldest was
6 months old and I simply put my personal health and wellness on the back
burner. I did this for 3 years and
almost burned myself out completely. I
remember telling Brett that I felt like if I continued down the path I was
going, I feared I would not see 40. It
was at that time that I took control of my health and wellness. I started exercising in small increments and
now am in the best shape I have ever been in physically and mentally. If you take care of yourself physically, it
will feed into your mental and emotional state as well. Don’t delay because your presence is
important to a lot of people.